STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford couldn't have asked for a better way to head into its conference season. Eleven players saw more than 10 minutes of action and the No. 13 Cardinal routed Yale 102-44 in Maples Pavilion on Wednesday afternoon.
Stanford (10-2) dominated from the start. It opened the game on an 8-0 run and led 24-6 after one. The lead ballooned to 30 when Nadia Fingall made a layup with 2:18 to go in the first half, 40 on a Karlie Samuelson triple just after the break and 50 on an old-fashioned 3-point play from DiJonai Carrington with less than 30 seconds to go in the third.
The Cardinal's 58-point margin of victory is tied for fifth in program history, its most lopsided win since it beat Washington by a school-record 77 on Jan. 8, 2009, and Stanford scored more than 100 for the first time since a 100-71 win over Arizona on March 11, 2011.
Karlie Samuelson led the way with her fourth career 20-point performance. She poured in 21 in 23 minutes, shooting 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Samuelson, who nailed bombs on three consecutive possessions in the third period, now has 180 career makes from deep to move past Kate Starbird and into 10th in Stanford history.
Erica McCall had 19 points and six boards and Brittany McPhee added 15 and eight for the Cardinal, which handed head coach Tara VanDerveer her 990th career victory.
Freshman Anna Wilson made her collegiate debut when she checked in at 6:01 in the second quarter and had a steal and a layup in her first two minutes. She'd sink three of her five 3-point attempts and Stanford shot 55.6 percent as a team from deep (10-of-18).
Alanna Smith grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and freshman Nadia Fingall had eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting, six rebounds and a career-high four assists in her first start.
Stanford had a 58-10 edge in the paint, 30-2 off turnovers, 16-0 on the break and 35-8 off the bench. Its 58 points in the paint were the program's most since it had the same number in a 92-68 win over UT Martin on Nov. 18, 2012.
It's a quick turnaround for the Cardinal, which begins Pac-12 play at No. 18 Arizona State on Friday at 3 p.m. PT/4 p.m. MT. Anne Marie Anderson and Mary Murphy will call Stanford's conference opener on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Arizona.
